by Pat Darling, CWL Diocesan Education and Health Chair
This is the time of year when secondary school students prepare bursary and scholarship applications. The focus of this communique is bursaries for students. Please promote our bursary:
Victoria Diocesan Catholic Women's League Bursary
“In Memory of Freda Smith” ($750)
Application Deadline: April 15, 2018
By way of background, our bursary was created in 2005 in memory of Freda Smith, a very special long-time CWL member in the Victoria Diocese. I have attached a copy of her bio for those of you who may be new to the bursary. The bursary is funded by donations made by our members during the collection taken up at one of the Masses during our annual Diocesan Convention in May. In 2017 the bursary was increased from $500 to $750. It is awarded annually to a child or a grandchild of members of the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Victoria.
The bursary criteria and application form have been updated and combined into one PDF document for ease of use. It can be accessed in several ways:
- The electronic form can be saved and printed or emailed.
- The criteria/application form can be downloaded directly from the Diocesan website: http://www.rcdvictoria.org/catholic-womens-league-bursaries.php. It is also now on our wonderful new CWL Diocese of Victoria website: https://cwldov.org/bursaries/. An internet search of Freda Smith CWL bursary will also get to these links. Many thanks to Connie Dunwoody, Communications Coordinator for the Diocese of Victoria for making this happen.
- For those of you who still prefer printed copies, I will bring some to our Day of Reflection on February 5th and to the Spring Interim Meeting on March 6th.
To reach graduating students in your parishes please share the information with
- secondary school counsellors in your area. Some will want the application forms, others will prefer the links.
- members of your CWL Council
- your parish youth group leaders
Place announcements in your parish bulletins and on parish bulletin boards and e-boards.
Other Bursaries we can also promote for graduating secondary school students:
CWL – The BC/Yukon Provincial Life Member’s Fine Arts & Cultural Award ($500)
Application Deadline: March 31, 2018
Criteria and applications can be found at: https://bcyukoncwl.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/fine-arts-culture-criteria-application.pdf.
The Catholic Health Association of BC
Application Deadline: March 9, 2018
Although not a CWL bursary, some of you have asked about this one. Two bursaries of $250 each - to two graduating students enrolled in a Catholic secondary school, or who are members of a BC or Yukon parish and enrolled in a public secondary school or are home-schooled. Criteria and application process: https://www.chabc.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/CHABC-Bursary-for-2018-Graduates.pdf
Bursaries given out by local CWL Councils
Does your council offer an annual bursary to Grade 12 graduates in your parish or schools?
If so, please email me the details including your application criteria and process. How do you promote it? Would you like to have the information posted on our CWL Diocesan website? I will include the findings in my report at the Spring Interim meeting.
May we continue to be guided and inspired by the Holy Spirit as we respond to God’s call in our CWL service. I close with a wonderful quote from St. Augustine that was shared with me today from the February weekday edition of Living with Christ: "God provides the wind, but you must raise the sails."